"I was selling coupons for things like oil changes or trips to a spa,” said Pratt, who described being "great" at knocking on doors in Lake Stevens, Washington, where he grew up.

The salesman's life, it turns out, helped Pratt prepare for an acting career of auditions and rejections.

"That’s why I believe in God and the divine,” said Pratt. “I feel like it was perfectly planned. People talk about rejection in Hollywood. I’m like, ‘You’re outta your f------ mind. Did you ever have someone sic their dog on you at an audition?”

Actor Chris Pratt tells Vanity Fair that fate — and God — were looking out for him on his road to success.Getty Images

"Guardians of the Galaxy" brought mega box-office stardom in 2014, the same year Pratt lost his father, Dan, a former miner who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Pratt was a teen.

Pratt described his father as "beyond wanting to accept help."

“If left untreated, (M.S.) can be devastating, and he left it untreated. For a couple of years he had symptoms, I think, but didn’t say anything," Pratt said, adding that his dad sometimes wore an eye patch and lied about getting something in his eye at work, rather than admit he had double vision.

Pratt's father enjoyed watching him on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," and his success brought the two closer together.

“He watched a lot of TV in his final years. That’s pretty much all he did, just sat in front of a TV," he said. "So, yeah, I think it made him proud and it was cool that I got to find some way to connect with him, because he was a hard man to connect with.”